7 Cheap And Healthy Alternatives To Junk Food

Healthy eating is a strong trend in recent years, and the best thing we can do is just be happy for all of his followers.

However, unfortunately, eating habits are the strongest habits that we acquire in early childhood. Bad habits and potentially harmful eating patterns can be corrected with great difficulty, and even with the help of psychotherapy in, especially difficult cases.

However, in fact, if you want to change your approach to nutrition, it is not necessary to retrain into a furious vegan from a fast-food lover instantly. It is enough to start with a small and replace at least one harmful product with a useful one. In this article we provide a list of seven harmful products and their useful analogs – choose any and start taking care of your health.

Fruit Chips Instead of Potato Chips

Yes, do not deny it – at the end of the working day, all of us love to turn on the TV, open a pack of chips and a jar of sweet soda and think about nothing for an hour. Or a few hours. Globally, there is nothing wrong with that – our body needs relaxation anyway. However, this becomes a problem when the evening watching a movie or series on TV is necessarily accompanied by chips – or even chips with beer.

No, we do not urge you to forever give up these few hours of relaxation for the brain – we urge you to abandon chips that are simply teeming with chemicals, flavors, and dyes. All you need to do is choose vegetable chips, for example, made from corn, or fruit, for example, apple chips instead of the usual potato chips. The first few attempts will seem like a strong break in the template, but remember, this is all a matter of habit. And if you can’t refuse chips in general, then the best thing you can do is replace them with a more useful alternative. And get used to it – for the sake of your health.

Hot Water Instead of Carbonated Drinks

Since we are talking about chips, let’s continue this topic. The most popular companion of evening chips is sweet sparkling water, or beer, in the best case, non-alcoholic. And yes, this is what you need to refuse in the next turn since sparkling water is pure sugar multiplied by dyes. Moreover, the more often you drink it, the more your receptors get used and the less taste you feel. And the level of sugar in your blood rises year after year. In addition, carbonated sugary drinks and beer are very high in calories – this is a direct way to forget about a slim figure.

And here is the most useful and inexpensive alternative – hot water. Not boiling water, but the water of a temperature that you can safely drink. Why hot water? There are several reasons.

  • Firstly, hot water speeds up the metabolism – and copes much faster than cold. This is a kind of detox.
  • Secondly, according to Ayurvedic practices, consuming cold water and food lowers our energy level.

The first few times again will seem to you something very strange – but rest assured, you will get used in two days.

Advice! Start your morning with a cup of hot water with lemon for better metabolism.

Chicory Instead of Coffee

So, morning … And another bad habit and the bad product is coffee. Yes, there are many studies proving the harmfulness and usefulness of coffee at the same time, but the most important thing to know is that caffeine has a direct energy effect on the brain. That is, we feel a surge of strength while caffeine acts, but then a state of complete decline will follow. Especially if you have drunk more than one cup of coffee per day.

Therefore, the alternative is as follows. If you absolutely cannot refuse the morning aroma of real coffee in your kitchen, then okay, drink one cup of coffee in the morning. And throughout the day, drink chicory. Chicory has a pronounced coffee taste, and it is a natural antioxidant and a regulator of blood sugar as well. And you don’t need to add sugar to the cup with chicory – better add milk or a pinch of cinnamon.

And by the way, cinnamon also has an invigorating effect – just like caffeine, it only has softer and safer action. And so that you do not want to sleep during the day and you do not need caffeine doping, here’s another alternative – replace the viewing of social media feeds with reading a book and go to bed early.

Nuts Instead of Chocolate Bars

Do you like chocolate? Yes, we understand you. However, this is unfortunately not the best choice for our health. The maximum that you can afford without harm to the body is one or two pieces of dark chocolate, and nothing more. Yes, we understand that chocolate bars are such a tasty and convenient snack that is always with you but think about a healthier alternative. Have you noticed that chocolate bars often contain nuts inside? And this is the only useful substance that they contain. Therefore, let’s just remove the chocolate and leave the nuts – it will be much healthier and much cheaper.

Plus, nuts give the right feeling of fullness and release energy. While the pure chocolate bar is a fast carbohydrate, it quickly gives a feeling of fullness, and it also quickly disappears. And after that, you will want to eat something else, and else, and else…

And also nuts very well stimulate brain activity and creativity. Do not believe it? The best freelance writers with the Online Writers Rating review website have confirmed this several times.

Oatmeal Instead of Ready-Made Breakfasts

Do you like ready-made breakfasts that take a minimum of time in the morning? Yes, this is an understandable decision. However, not the most healthy and useful for your body. In fact, breakfast boxes are crammed with sugar and desperately need natural products that they practically don’t contain. And since breakfast is a critical meal throughout the day, it is fundamentally important to have breakfast correctly.

By the way, do you remember Sherlock Holmes? Do you know why he ate oatmeal (and fried eggs with bacon) in the morning? No, not because 200 years ago it was not possible to buy ready-made breakfasts. But because a hearty and proper breakfast gives our brains the opportunity to work productively throughout the day and not dream of eating fast food, pizza or something like that. Moreover, oatmeal also provides a powerful supply of physical energy which will be enough for you for several hours of intensive physical or intellectual work.

Therefore, here are the rules for a perfect breakfast

  • start with hot water with lemon
  • proceed to oatmeal
  • drink coffee (one cup) or chicory if you are not an avid coffee lover.

Note that there are no packaged juices and croissants on this list.

An Apple Instead of Cookies or Crackers

Doctors say that it is right to eat in small portions – once every two to three hours. And also to eat small snacks to prevent the emergence of a strong feeling of hunger, and as a result, changes in blood sugar. Moreover, it is important that these intermediate meals are also healthy and proper. What is the most affordable option for a quick snack? That’s right, these are cookies or crackers.

However, there is a healthier alternative. And the most useful of them is an apple. However, you can also replace an apple with a pear, banana, kiwi, orange or any other fruit – it will be definitely more useful to get a portion of vitamins from fresh fruits than a portion of fast carbohydrates and calories from sweet and flour products.

Vegetable Salad With Fish Instead of a Hamburger

Yes, this is another strong habit of those who go to work in the office – to order delivery of fast food for lunch. And all kinds of applications, bonuses, discounts, and fast delivery only contribute to the reinforcement of this habit. Plus, of course, it is much more convenient to order ready-made food than to cook it yourself and carry it with you to the office. However, an unhealthy office lunch is a direct path to long-term health problems. Therefore, we offer you a cheaper and healthier alternative.

Instead of once again ordering delivery of a hamburger, pizza or french fries to the office, teach yourself to dine on healthy foods. The most correct alternative is a vegetable salad with fish. Fish will give feelings of satiety far more quickly than a piece of red meat from a hamburger, and vegetables do not turn into fatty deposits as if you ate pizza. And what’s more, it’s much cheaper to make a light salad yourself and bring it to the office, than to spend money every day on the delivery of ready-made meals.

Conclusion

Yes, it is difficult to switch to a healthy diet in one day. Therefore, start the transformation in sequence. Choose the product or habit that speaks best of you — and start accustoming yourself to a healthier alternative. We, in turn, wish you good luck and good health!

Written by

Frank Hamilton is a blogger and translator from Manchester. He is a professional writing expert in such topics as blogging, digital marketing and self-education. He also loves traveling and speaks Spanish, French, German and English.

Latest comments
  • Raw cacao is actually highly nutritious and low in calories. It is the Dutch processing (treatment with alkali) that destroys almost all of the benefits of cacao. Suggestion: make homemade chips, crackers, and other snacks using healthy ingredients, maybe as a weekend project, so that a stash of munchies is available. This can be customized to your individual taste, and is MUCH cheaper than store bought.

  • NOTES: Coffee is Good for your heart – within limited amounts. Make sure that your Oats (Oatmeal) is Organic – ex. from Bob’s Red Mill. Make sure your chocolate is pure/ raw from South America. AVOID Farm(ed) Fish from Anywhere.

  • One of our favorite snacks is sliced apples, stirred in a cast iron skillet with butter and cinnamon. Melt butter in skillet, add apples. Stir. Cook on medium heat until apples are not quite as crisp, but not mushy. Add cinnamon to taste and stir before serving. This also makes a great side dish to a meal or a warm breakfast.

  • A ketogenic diet is good for your brain. If you have Alzheimer’s in your family, it doesn’t mean you will get it, but diet and exercise can prevent the side effects of Alzheimer’s. (See Alzheimer’s: The Science of Prevention)

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